In the field of wireless communications, a page is a short data message sent over a control channel to communicate information to a wireless communication device. Common pages include incoming call alerts, voice mail indicators, text messages, location requests, and data session requests. In the past, a wireless communication network would receive a page request and then broadcast the corresponding page throughout the entire network. As wireless communication networks grew larger and more complex, the concept of paging zones was introduced.
The wireless communication networks were separated into paging zones, where each base station is assigned to a particular paging zone. The base stations broadcast their paging zones to the communication devices they serve, and the communication devices periodically report their current paging zone to the paging system. Thus, instead of broadcasting a page throughout the entire network, the paging system broadcasts the page throughout the applicable paging zone.
Currently, different types of wireless networks are being geographically overlaid. For example, a typical multi-mode smartphone may use both a wireless voice network and a separate wireless data network. Although, they are discretely separate networks, the wireless voice network and the wireless data network often share wireless access points, such as cell towers, shelters, power systems, and the like.